North Korea launched a long-range rocket has drawn renewed international condemnation.
North Korea launched a long-range rocket has drawn renewed international condemnation. The US Strategic Command said it had detected a missile entering space, and South Korea’s military said the rocket had put an object into orbit. North Korea’s state news agency carried a still picture of a white rocket, which closely resembled a previously launched rocket, lifting off. Isolated North Korea’s last long-range rocket launch, in 2012, put what it called a communications satellite into orbit, but no signal has ever been detected from it.
“If it can communicate with the Kwangmyongsong-4, North Korea will learn about operating a satellite in space,” said David Wright, co-director and senior scientist at the Global Security Program of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Even if not, it gained experience with launching and learned more about the reliability of its rocket systems.”
The rocket lifted off at around 9:30 a.m. Seoul time (0030 GMT) on a southward trajectory, as planned. Japan’s Fuji Television Network showed a streak of light heading into the sky, taken from a camera at China’s border with North Korea.
North Korea had notified United Nations agencies that it planned to launch a rocket carrying an Earth observation satellite, triggering opposition from governments that see it as a long-range missile test.
The U.N. Security Council condemned the launch in an emergency meeting on Sunday, and vowed to take “significant measures” in response to Pyongyang’s violations of U.N. resolutions, Venezuela’s U.N. ambassador said.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told reporters: “We will ensure that the Security Council imposes serious consequences. DPRK’s (North Korea) latest transgressions require our response to be even firmer.”
The United States and China began discussing a U.N. sanctions resolution after Pyongyang’s Jan. 6 atomic test.
